Surface-mount technology (SMT) provides a way of interconnecting electronic circuit components with each other. For example, according to such technology, electronic devices are specifically packaged for mounting directly on a respective surface of a printed circuit board. Because of the advantages associated with surface mount technology such as smaller part size, surface mount technology has, to a large extent, replaced through-hole technology in which wire leads of components are fitted and soldered into holes of a printed circuit board to provide connectivity.
Surface mount devices come in a variety of styles. For example, a surface mount device can have relatively small leads or no leads extending from the package at all. Because a surface mount device has relatively small leads or no leads at all, a surface mount device is usually smaller than its through-hole counterpart. The surface mount device may have short pins or leads of various styles, flat contacts, a matrix of solder balls (such as Ball Grid Arrays), or terminations on the body of the component.
One type of electronic circuit that can be packaged in a surface mount device is a so-called integrated circuit or semiconductor chip. The integrated circuit can provide a variety of functionality depending on how the integrated circuit (e.g., chip) is designed.
For example, in a specific application, an integrated circuit can include one or more arrays of small transistors that are interconnected in parallel with respect to each other based solely on metal layers (e.g., conductive paths) in the integrated circuit. Connecting multiple small transistors of an integrated circuit in parallel via the corresponding layers of metal effectively can produce a single transistor supporting high current drive and low impedance switching capability.
In certain other applications, transistors can be obtained as discrete components (e.g., individual electrical parts) and connected in parallel with each other via respective traces on a circuit board. As is the case for multiple transistors connected in parallel via the metal layers in an integrated circuit, a set of multiple transistors in parallel with each other on a circuit board can provide higher current sinking and sourcing capability.